15 persons were last month arrested by operatives of the anti-smuggling arm of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ for various import offences.
While nine of the suspects have been released on bail, six have been charged to court.
Spokesperson of the unit, Assistant Superintendent of Customs (ASC) Uche Ejesieme told SHIPS & PORTS DAILY that the six persons charged to court were among the seven members of a syndicate that specializes in forgery of various government import documents arrested by the unit last month.
He said the accused persons were charged to court after proper investigation on a four count charge.
A list of charges against the accused persons, a copy of which was obtained by SHIPS & PORTS DAILY include counterfeiting and forging of customs allocation/auction papers; counterfeiting of the seal of the Comptroller General of Customs; counterfeiting of the seal of the officer in charge of valuation, Ogun Command and counterfeiting of the seal of the officer in charge of valuation, Apapa Area command.
Ejesieme added that the unit also made 216 seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N80.6 million during the month.
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